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A Thanksgiving Sermon Delivered 
Trinity Lutheran Church, 
Lancaster, Pa., November 26, 1908 

By the Pastor, J. E. WHITTEKER. D. D. 




Church and State 



"Render, therefore, unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and 
unto God, the things that are God's." Matt, xxii, 21. 

/HT^HE call that comes to us this morning is a reasonable 



request on the part of the State : as loyal citizens, 



therefore, we are here in response to it. The mercies 
of God : the loving-kindness with which He has crowned our 
lives ; the blessings in the product of farm and shop, of office 
and store, as well as in the health and happiness of our homes 
— these should quicken gratitude in our hearts. The mercies 
of God : our trials have been tempered by His loving provi- 
dence ; our sorrows have been soothed through His compas- 
sionate care, His blessed assurance of comfort and peace. If 
we look to ourselves, we are constrained to confess, " Lord, I 
am not worthy of all the mercies and of all the truth, which 
thou hast showed unto thy servant." If we dwell upon the 
merciful kindness of God, we cannot but lift up our voice in 
songs of praise. " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is 
within me, bless his holy name : bless the Lord, O my soul, 
and forget not all his benefits." Let this, then, be a day of 
grateful remembrance : let this be an hour of thankfulness and 
praise. Let the nation be glad and sing for joy. 

It seems but proper, at this meeting of Church and State, to 
take a subject kindred to its spirit. And what could better 
engage our thought than the principle underlying the text, 
" Render, therefore, unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's ; 
and unto God, the things that are God's." Jesus draws a dis- 
tinct line, here, between Church and State ; and in all His 
teaching and practice, He kept close to it. In precept and 
example, therefore, we have His undoubted estimate of their 
relation and place. 

1 . The primitive Church accepted the civilization into which 




Church and State 



it came : it was absolutely separate from State and all State 
life. While the Apostolic Church was free from all state 
alliances, it did not disregard state enactments : its spirit was 
one of humble obedience. And if State law and Christian 
conscience came into conflict, its members submitted to the 
imposed penalties and thanked God for the grace which enabled 
them to suffer for righteousness' sake. The early Church had 
no revolutionary principles: the rule, was, "Let every soul be 
subject unto the higher powers; for the powers that be are 
ordained of God." And then came the inevitable logic, " He 
that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God." The 
law of the Christian life was a simple one : an acceptance of 
governmental rules, a quiet endurance of whatever hardships 
they placed upon the followers of Christ, an adaptation to ex- 
isting conditions wherever it could be done with good con- 
science, and a careful teaching and close adherence to that 
Word which is spirit and life. The conquests of the Church 
were conquests of peace : the renewal of heart and life which, 
by the life-energy within it, would renew the State in heart and 
life. The beauty, the sublimity, the Christ-like spirit of it ! 
Moreover, these were the days of persecution : the State, at 
every point, was meddling with the Church — its offices of peace 
among the people. The Church was the State's surest support ; 
and yet, the State tried to crush it. 

2. The first age past, a new one came — -new in kind and 
tone. Constantine had become master of the Roman Empire. 
He was tolerant toward the religion of Christ, even favorable 
to it. But he retained the title of Pontifex Maximus, the High- 
priest of the heathen State. At last, he openly espoused the 
Christian cause, and encouraged it by conferring special priv- 
ileges on those who embraced it. He had sprung, however, 
from heathen source, with heathen antecedents and heathen 
inheritances and heathen proclivities. And so, his empire was 
a patch-work of heathen policies and Christian practices. It 
was a new piece of cloth on an old garment : it could not hold 
its shape. 

In heathen lands, each nation had its special gods, with their 



2 




Church and State 



own peculiar rites. Constantine would make the Christian's 
God the God of the Roman State : His worship must be 
supreme. He, therefore, was Head of the Church and State — 
this Constantine. And so, Church and State were joined under 
one crown — the crown of Constantine. The sword of Church 
and State was one : the conquests of Church and State were 
one : the glory of Church and State was one. The Pontifex 
Maximus of the heathen Empire stretched his shield of power 
over the Church of the Prince of Peace. 

3. A new period came, with new potencies to mould it. The 
Church now became a factor in world politics : it thus was made 
the beneficiary of royal favors. Legacies and donations from 
the crown not only put the Church under obligations to the 
State, but furnished it with those sinews of war by which it was 
enabled to render sterling service to the State in keeping back 
barbarian foes. The Church, as yet, exercised no imperial 
rights it was but a helpmeet for the State. 

And now came the time when Charlemagne succeeded to 
empire and the Pope sought the protection of the throne. And, 
in return, the Emperor received special recognition from the 
Pope, who on that memorable Christmastide, as if by the im- 
pulse of the moment, crowned Charlemagne and made him 
sovereign of a vast theocratic Empire, his power reaching over 
all the globe. The spheres of Church and State were yet dis- 
tinct ; but they were combined in the person of the Emperor as 
their chief executive. The entering wedge, however, had been 
set: the crown of universal empire had been placed on the 
imperial head by the Pope ! That was enough for the present. 

Meantime, Charles the Great died. The real purpose of the 
papacy soon became manifest; and in the struggle for suprem- 
acy, the power swayed, now to the Emperor's side, now to the 
side of the Papal See. In course of time, all empire rested in 
the Pope : he crowned and uncrowned kings ; the Church and 
State were one, the Pope supreme. Satan at last had gained 
his point : the empire he had laid at Jesus' feet — who scorned 
it — was grasped by the Pope : and now he ruled both Church 
and State in Jesus' name. 



Church and State 



4. The Dark Ages were the outcome. But dawn broke with 
the Reformation light. Back to the Apostles ; back to Christ : 
such was the cry that wakened Europe : and to waken Europe 
meant to wake all earth besides. The view of the Lutheran 
Reformers looked both ways : it excluded the Church from the 
sphere of civil life ; it claimed the supremacy of the Emperor 
over all classes, pope and people — and that, too, by divine 
right. Their words are specific, " The Pope and Clergy," they 
say, " are subject to the civil authorities." They were not slow 
to declare that the supreme sway of the Pope was the sway of 
Anti-Christ. The line, therefore, was distinct : the secular 
sphere belongs to the domain of the civil authorities ; it is the 
spiritual sphere in which the Church lives and moves. 

And these were the principles taught by Christ and His 
Apostles. The dispute as to the tribute money brought the 
subject fairly before Jesus. And His decision was, " Render, 
therefore, unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's ; and unto 
God, the things that are God's." He paid tribute to heathen 
Rome : surely pope and prelate are not exempt from obedience 
to the decrees of the State. When Peter came to the rescue at 
the gate of Gethsemane, the rebuke came sharp and swift, " Put 
up thy sword : they that take the sword shall perish with the 
sword." And when Christ stood before Pilate and acknowl- 
edged Himself a King, He said, " My kingdom is not of this 
world." The Apostle Paul is equally specific, " Let every soul 
be subject unto the higher powers ; for there is no power but 
of God : the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever, 
therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God." 
The primitive Church followed exactly the commandment of 
Christ; while the Reformation took up and emphasized the 
same eternal principle. 

5. And to-day, we acknowledge the fundamental character 
of this principle. But do we carry it out into all our practice? 
It is a remarkable fact that, consciously or unconsciously, we 
reverse the order of Charlemagne: he carried the Church into 
politics ; we carry politics into the Church. I do not refer to 
fanatical pulpit rantings along reformatory lines : I refer to the 
best, the soberest thought of the age. 



Church and State 



The late Civil War furnishes an example. The Church, 
North and South, dabbled in it. And the disastrous effects are 
still felt. There was slavery in the days of Christ: but He 
never raised His voice against it as a system of State. He did 
what was infinitely better. When He said, "Thou shalt love 
thy neighbor as thyself," He laid the axe at the root of the 
tree. Put the principle of Christian love into the heart, and 
slavery will come to an end without strife. And the Church 
dare not hurry the process by an appeal to the strong arm of 
the State. It must sow the pure seed — not the husk of it ; you 
cannot raise corn from husks : the Church must sow the pure 
seed, the very inward principle of Christian love ; and civil 
equality must be the outcome. St. Paul recognized the same 
principle and adopted it. 

There is nothing more difficult, these times, than to keep the 
Church out of politics. And this difficulty is intensified where 
a Christian principle is at stake. The Church, in some of its 
branches, has been knocking at the door of State and clamoring 
for the name of God in the Constitution. This is not the 
Church's work : it is the province of the Church to knock at 
men's hearts and get the name of God written there — written 
there by the blood of the New Covenant; and the Constitution 
will take care of the Church's interests. Imagine Christ calling 
upon Caesar to change his coin and put God's name on it. 
Imagine Him calling upon Caesar to tear down the heathen 
temples and set up an altar to the God who dwells in the circle 
of the skies. He did not touch a single heathen rite; He did 
not interfere with a single heathen sacrifice ; He planted princi- 
ples. And with what result? The whole host of Roman deities 
have gone down to the dust, and Jesus Christ reigns supreme. 

The Church, in some of its branches, is knocking at the door 
of State and demanding a place for the Bible in the public 
schools. It should be there, but the Church must not enter 
politics to get it there. The Church must get the Bible into 
men's hearts; and when men everywhere are moved by the 
Bible spirit and are built up on Bible principles, so that they 
know the Bible as the only true maker of manhood, then the 



Church and State 



State, made up of men with deep religious convictions, and 
strong in their spiritual lives, will give the Bible its proper 
place. A religious policy that is forced has no vital energy in 
it. It is a letter without life ; it has no power to bring sub- 
stantial results. And it is the province of the Church not to 
force a political issue, but to inculcate and implant principles 
that will be irresistible and inevitable in their outcome. Truth 
never makes haste ; truth is a growth ; and the growths of God 
lead up by slow, steady processes. 

The Church, in some of its branches, is knocking at the door 
of State and demanding laws to prohibit the manufacture and 
sale of intoxicants. That is not the sphere of the Church ; that 
belongs absolutely to the State. The Church must preach 
moderation in all things ; it must preach against debauchery of 
every sort. Temperance is a Christian principle, and because 
it is a Christian principle the Church must preach it. But pro- 
hibition is a policy ; it is a political issue, not a spiritual one ; it 
is, therefore, outside the sphere of the Church. If I believed 
in a prohibitive policy I would not preach it, for it is a question 
of State ; it has no more place in the pulpit than the tariff or 
any other political issue. It would be dragging politics into the 
Church, which is as bad as the method of Charlemagne, who 
dragged the Church into politics. The outcome was most dis- 
astrous then ; it would be equally so now. 

Let us not be deceived by the moral quality of that which 
engages public thought; we must decide every issue — our 
policy with respect to it — not by the moral end to be reached, 
but by the avenue through which we should reach it. And in 
the decision we should bear in mind that there must be no 
mixing up of Church and State ; the mixing up of Church and 
State, as in that elder day, is the process that crucifies Christ. 
The Church is never so weak as when it leans on the State ; the 
Church is never so corrupt as when it usurps the offices of 
State. Their spheres are distinct ; their modes must be equally 
distinct. 

6. I have tried, without prejudice, to develop my subject 
along historical and Scriptural lines. The Church of the early 

6 



Church and State 



age drifted into politics : the condition of our age is quite the 
reverse — politics is worming its way into the Church. Let us 
not be deceived by any loftiness of aim : let us not be carried 
away by any Utopian pictures of promised results. When the 
principles of Christianity must be protected by civil power, the 
Dark Age of spiritual life will have come. When the manhood 
of the nation must be policed by sumptuary laws, the virile 
quality will have gone. Let us draw the line where Christ 
draws it: the Church will be safe: so will the State. 

The rule of the Church is a spiritual rule: the weapons of 
the Church are spiritual weapons : the work of the Church is a 
spiritual work. The Church's activities must center upon the 
pure preaching of the Word and the proper administration of 
the Sacraments. If we men of the pulpit would spend our 
strength in stirring the hearts of our people into newness of 
life, awakening their consciences and making them sensitive to 
the deep soul-needs of men of every class and kind : Truth in 
the inward parts — if we could but plant it there; then every 
State policy would have the Christian principle within it and 
back of it. Let the Church give its loftiest effort, not to little 
outside policies, but to the great essential principles; and 
Christian manhood will be the result. And then, it will not 
only command the respect of men in political life : it will be 
the real moulder of political life. And then, too, the Church 
will be in the State, not as a promoter of specific policies, but 
as the vital power of eternal principles, to shape, to ennoble, 
and to bless. 

This is no theory of mine : it is involved in the principles of 
Christ and His Apostles, the principles of the best men of 
every best age. It should, therefore, command our thoughtful 
respect : it should lead us to inquire where we stand on this 
great question of Church and State; and if we have been 
wrong-set, to change our course and get in the true path of the 
pure principles of Christ. The Church must not be in politics : 
politics must not be in the Church. But manhood in the 
Church means manhood in the State; and manhood in the 
Church comes from the proper use of Word and Sacrament. 



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